Foot covering



May 21, 1946. L. s. HERBERT 2,400,592

"FOOT COVERING Original Filed March 24, 1945 2'SheetS-Sheet 1 L. s.HERBERTY FOOT COVERING May 23;, 1946.

Original Filed March 24, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 2l, 1946Foot;` CovEnING Leon S. Herbert, Merion, Pa., assigner to Theotiste N.Herbert, Merion', Pa.

origlinalapplieation March 24.,V 1943ser`ia1No.

Divided and this application December 9, 1943, Serial No. 513,597

(Cl. Sti- 7 Claims.

This application is a division of my application, Serial No. 480,265,filed March 24, 1943, noW Patent No. 2,344,773, granted March 21, 1944.

This invention relates to knitted foot coverings and more particularlyto the slipper type of knitted foot covering adapted to be Worn inside alowcut ladies shoe or slipper, it being among the principal objects ofthis invention to provide a foot covering of rib .knitted fabric inwhich the natural elasticity 'of the fabric extends lengthwise of thefoot and is greater in the sole section than in the heel and toesections to thereby insure a proper and 'comfortable fit of the coveringupon the foot.

It is also an object of this invention to make the slipper foot coveringfrom/a selvage edge tubular section of true rib seamless fabric of adiameter large enough so that the section, which has natural l stretchor elasticity coursewise thereof, will fit over a number of sizes offeet with the seamless courses extending lengthwise of the foot aroundthe heel and the toe thereof, thus making it possible not only for amanufacturer of the foot covering of this invention to supply his tradewith a lesser numberof sizes, but also for the retailer to stock alesser number of sizes and yet meet all of the user requirements. Otherobjects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings `in which: l

Figure 1 is a View showing the slipper foot covering in place on thefoot of a wearer;

Figure 2 is a side view of a tubular section of seamless knitted fabric;

Figure 3 is a view showing the section turned inside Vout and with aportion thereof cut away;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 with certain edges joinedtogether;

Figure 5 is a view of the article shown in Figure 4 turned right'sideout;

Figure 6 is a view of the fabric stitches in the tuck stitch portion ofthe fabric; and' Figure 7 is a side elevational view of the nishedproduct as it appears when dyed and boarded to shape.

In providing the slipper foot covering of the present'invention, alengthwise 'extending tube of knitted fabric is provided of a Adiameterlarge enough so that the seamless 'courses are of such length, allowingfor the natural inherent stretch or elasticity thereof, as to extendcoursewise in a direction extending lengthwise of the foot and aroundthe 'heelf'and'y the `toe thereof. Since Va knitted, fabric has greaterstretch or elasticity coursewise than walewise, it is evident that theslipper foot covering so made will fit snugly around the vheel and thetoe of the foot of the wearer.,A Soy far asy the feature of theinvention relating to the courses yextending lengthwise of the-foot isconcerned, it is obvious that a seamless tube is not essential to thesame and that cut andsewn flat rib knitted fabric may be employedwithout `departing fromthe lspirit of the inveni tion, althoughin itsApreferred embodiment the article of this invention is fabricated ofcircular knit seamless fabric, as with this type of fabric the methodvofwmaking the nished product is simpler and less expensive.

In the preferred embodiment rib rather than plain fabric -is used as theformer has a greater stretch `or elasticity than the latter, althoughthe latter may be used if desired. The true rib fabric may be usedthroughout the slipper foot, but if less stretch is desired in the heeland toe areas,

as when the sole section has suiiicient elasticity, then the stitchstructure of the heel and the toe may be varied over the true rib stitchstructure to reduce the elasticity of the same, such a variation institch structure being obtained, for example,by knitting the heel andthe toe sections of tuck stitch rib, ltransferred stitches or even plainjersey fabric.

In the production of the present invention, the lengthwiseextendingseamless tube is provided with selvageconstructions, inaccordance with kconventional practice in the manufacture of tubularknitted articles, so that the tube may be separated into relativelyshort tubular sections, one edge of which has a selvage, this edge forming the'upper finished edge of the slipper foot covering, as will appearmore fully hereinafter.

A tubular section of the seamless tube just described is shown in sideview in Figure 2 at I0,

y this section being so knit as to have a pair of circumferentiallyspaced walewise-extending plain truerib sections l I-II and a pair ofcircumferentially spaced Walewise-extending tuck stitch rib sections I2and I3, the true rib sections being alternately spaced in relation tothe tuck stitch rib sections. 'At the upper edge there is the selvag'eI4', which may be a tuck stitch selvage in the case of rib fabric, thisselvage extending completely around the tubular section I0. The tuckstitches in the areas I2 and I3 may be made upon either the cylinder orthe dial needles and may be made inv any desired pattern so long as theyextend substantially throughout the areas I2 and I3 fora purposeWhich'will'be apparent herein-v after. The areas I2 and I3 may containother stitch variations than the tuck stitches, such, for example, astransferred stitches or they may be made of plain jersey fabric, thepurpose in all such cases being to reduce the elasticity of the heel andtoe portions of the foot covering, these portions being designated inFigure 1V by the reference numerals I5 and I6.

In Figure 3, the tubular section II) has been turned inside out and oneedge of the toe sectionv I5 has been shaped, as shown at I6, by cutting.*n

As shown in Figure 4, the seam I'I is used to join together the outedges I 6 to form the covered wearer, this snug t being facilitated bythe I0 to close the bottom of the same to form the"vr i the tucked ribsections, the even-numbered wales 2i), 22, 24, 26 and 28 being drawn inone direction and the odd-numbered wales 2l; 23, 25, 2'I-and 29 Vbeingdrawn in the opposite direction. In each of the wales 2l and 25 there isa series of tuck stitches and in the tuck stitch sections I2 and I3 ofthe fabric, this Wale of tuck stitches is repeated at regular intervals.The tuck stitches may be arranged in any desired design and they may beincluded in either or both of the toe and hee portions.

When the slipper foot is made fromY a' tubular section of rib fabric itis relatively immaterial which side of the fabric is outermost as bothfaces of the plain rib are substantially alike. In the tuck stitch ribsections I2 and I3, the tucks will vbe on one side or the other ofthefabric depending upon whether they have been vmade by the cylinder orby the dial needles and in these 'sections the tucks maybe placed on theinside or on Y the outside of the finished product as desired withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. If desired, and in order toprovide the covering with some further degree of shape, theattened tubeID may be further trimmed in the regions of the lower toe and heelportions to provide somewhat rounded shapes inthese regions, the cutedges of the tube and the lower edges thereof extending along the soleportion being then joined together by the -continuous line of stitchingI8.

It Will be understood, however, that this shaping threads incorporatedtherein. The use of a'rib providing a maximum of elasticity. Theprovi- Ysion of the tuck stitch wales in the heel and in the toe sections, as inthe form of construction shown'in Figures 1 to '7, reduces somewhat theelasticity in these sections so that the toe and heel portions I5 VandI6 of the finished covering more snugly t about the toe and heel of thegreater elasticity of the rib fabric of the lower sole portion which,permits the foot to be Vfitted toe section I5 andthe seam I8 is used"to join, 'i v"Without binding' dSCOInfOl. The inherent Seltogether thelower edges of the tubular section;k

vage edge IgImade in the knitting of the tubular 1 section I0 provides afinished edge for the article f of` apparel without kany furtheroperations.

It will be understood, of course, that this invention is susceptible ofvarious modifications" whichfmay' be ,made from time to time withoutdeparting Vfrom the'real'spiriti or generalV princi,.-

. What is claimed as new and Yuseful is:

1. A slipper type foot coveringrof such; height asitobe completelyconcealed from View. when worn'within anouter pump or other, such low.-

, cut shoeand formed of a knitted fabric wherein edge to preventraveling thereofand;the upper front part of the fabric, whenfoldedflatwise upon itself, extending Yalong a. diagonal line-,in continuationof the` selvage edge providing registery ing ravel or unfinished edges,said Ylatter edges cumferentially seamless or endless knitted` con- Astructon in the plane of the line a-a, and inasmuch as theknittedcourses also extend circumferentially about the foot (i. e.lengthwise thereof), the covering has sufficient elasticity to t snuglyover the foot.

It will be seen that I have provided a foot covering of knitted fabricin the form of a slipper foot in which the Vcourses extend lengthwise ofthe foot so that the natural elasticity'of. the textile rfabric. causesthe covering-totsnugly over the foot without the use of rubber orelastic being seamed together to providethe covering witha v,fashionedtoe pocket and with an opening in the top ,thereof of substantiallylersscircumferential extent. than( the overall" peripheral length of.Vthe foot covering,V therbottom of the folded fabric being seamed alongaline paralleling the courses Vof the fabric and spaced from the`selvage edges aforesaid and the line'f the toe-fashioning seam'. l Y l.2. A slipper type foot covering of the character dened in claim 1wherein at least one por-f tion'thereof disposed adjacent oneend of theintermediate sole portion of the covering is knitted of tuck stitches toprovide said tuck stitch knitted portion with a lesserde'gree of stretchthanthe remaining portion of the covering.

3. A slipper type foot covering of the character defined in claim lwherein thertoe and heel portions thereof are knitted of stitchesdiffering in character from those of which the sole portion is knittedto providefor reduction in'the stretch Vcharacteristic of the. -toe andportions Vof the covering as compared with that of'tlie'intermediatesole portionthereof. Y

LA slipper'type foot covering of the character Y defined in claim 1wherein the toe and heelY portions thereof are knitted of tuck lstitchesand the sole portion of plain stitches wherebyjtopr'ovide f for reduced'course-Wise stretch of thej'cover'ing in the toe and heel portions ascompared with thatin the intermediate sole portion thereof.;

"5. A slipper type rfoot coveringgof the charac- I '7. In a slipper typefoot covering of the character dened in claim 1 wherein the aforesaidknitted courses extend continuously and without interruption around atleast one end of the covering to form afseamless knit band extendinghorizontally around said end and from side to side thereof.

LEON S. HERBERT.

